This past weekend I went to see the Season 9 tour in Columbia, South Carolina and as the show did not disappoint. Much like Season 8 the dances seemed to flow effortlessly from dance to dance with a short welcome to the show from Eliana and Chehon. I hadn’t planned on writing about the show but thanks to Will and a moment of accidental hilarity, I need to share the story, but I’ll get to that a little later. First I just want to share few thoughts about the show.

I can’t say I really remember too much about the season and normally before the show I usually refresh my memory by watching a few videos on YouTube, but without the internet at my apartment I couldn’t do that this time around. So for me there wasn’t too much I was missing except maybe a few more duet numbers with Cyrus. I will say this it is fun to see the animation art from in person. I found myself especially in the group numbers watching Matthew, Cole, Whitney, Eliana, and Chehon, all for different reasons of course. Speaking of group numbers I loved them all and my favorite was the Cha Cha/Disco fusion that closed the first half of the show. During the Broadway portion of the show there was a certain prop on the stage I was excited to see, the pole. “When You’re Good to Mama” was a favorite of mine this season and I was excited that they turned it into a fun group number for all of the girls to perform. Truthfully Eliana’s moves at the end were just amazing.

This season we got to see many of Mia Michael’s works recreated, and I’m not really sure why but I didn’t expect to see them in the tour show but thankfully I was wrong. Hometown Glory, the Bench, Addiction, and Coupe Island Blues (the butt dance) were the chosen ones. I loved watching Cole get so into the character (for every dance he did) he’s kind of scary when he gets so serious. Coupe Island Blues…oh I so wish I had filmed it but it probably would have been too shaky from me laughing so hard. Somewhere in the beginning Will had an interesting wardrobe malfunction, his pants came undone and well it became fun to watch him trying to deal with it because there was no time for him to refasten them. I’ll say this he did an amazing job keeping them up and the audience only got a small peek at the underwear which had us giggling the entire time, I don’t know how Amelia kept and straight face. Also with Will being the person he is couldn’t help but acknowledge it on stage during the dance, I could barely hear what he said but it was something like I loosing my pants.

Closing out the show started out with the East Coast hip hop that was originally done by Whitney and Twitch. I would have thought Cyrus would have taken Twitch’s place but it was George (surprisingly good) but Cyrus did join them about halfway through the dance. By the time they got to the “waiting on the bus part” the rest of the cast joined them on the stage and went into the finale of the show which did include some Gangnam Style moves.

Overall I had a great time at the show even if they have downsized the size of the venues. Here is the link to my http://www.youtube.com/user/dancestar516 YouTube page and see some of the video I have taken from this season and a few other seasons as well. Also continue to check back the uploading process is a little slow.

Also I always get the tour program which comes with a fun Q&A so if there is enough request for it I will type them up for which dancers you want from the top 10 (Matthew and Amelia don’t have one.)

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Since I am technically overseas and this is the first time I have been able to sit at a computer to type out the Power Rankings for the Top Four… please bear with me. I hope that when the Top Four perform it will be a lot better… but that is also up in the air.

Now that we know whom the Top Four is going to be… let me go through who I believe the Top Guy and Top Girl is going to be based on their performances thus far and what I would love to see from them in the upcoming penultimate episode of Season 9.

THE GUYSCyrus “Glitch” Spencer
From his introduction, Cyrus was introduced to the audience as the “dancer that could”. As someone whose genre is so unique that it seemed virtually impossible for him to adapt to anything else, the choreographers week after week found ways to hide his faults and flaws in dancing whle emphasizing the strengths of his dancing and more importantly his newly developed partnering skills. What Cyrus brings to the table is a love, passion and desire to learn other dance styles all the while evolving his individual style in the process.

He is not without his struggles. Cyrus has time and again struggled in picking up the choreography in other dance styles while at the same time has learned adapt his individual strength and focus it into partnering. Another positive for the enigma known as Cyrus is his charisma and simple joy of just dancing on stage… one would hope that would never change. At the same time, I wouldn’t consider Cyrus “the whole package” he is still rather weak on the dance technical front, but dammit… I could see the allure that is Cyrus if only for his smile.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Chehon is at the opposite side of the spectrum: He is technically proficient in any and all dance styles. He has learned how to loosen up and let go and learned to get down and feel the steps (hip hop with Lauren anyone?) and bit by bit he has shown pieces of his personality. But it was a battle to get to that point. Chehon was reserved and quiet when it came to his personality.

However there was something about Chehon that just kept him on the stage, partially the judges loved him, partially the audience was drawn to him. No matter the reason, the answer is clear, Chehon is someone special. He may not have the over flowing and abundant sense of charisma that flows out of his being like Cyrus but undeniably there is something about him that you simply cannot ignore.

Over the past several weeks, Chehon’s biggest issue wasn’t his dancing prowess but being able to simply let go and just dance. He struggled early on with the Latin and hip hop styles but over time he started to feel more and more comfortable in his skin to be able to simply enjoy the dance. There have been a lot of cases / situations where the stronger technical dancer has been overlooked in favor for one whose charisma and personality is infectious, here is hoping that this is not the case this time around.

THE GIRLSEliana Girard
This is another very strong technical dancer who also possess the charisma enough to be the total package. In fact one would go so far as to say that she is the total package. However the primary issue here is that in aiding her partner in the first few weeks of the season she may have suffered in revealing what she is capable of to the audience.

Very much the dark horse between the two girls she has shown time and time Gain via her technical ability that she has what it takes to come out on top. However, something about her fell flat to early in the competition that landed her in danger of elimination. Eventually she found her stride and it would appear that the voting public is warming up to…

Whatever the reason, for me personally, she appears to be the full package as long as she continues his upward trend. To me her struggles weren’t so much personality or charisma but rather she was working hard to help her partner look good and as thus her own image suffered to an extent, but now as an individual she is able to not only brighten but shine in the glow of the self.

Tiffany Maher
I will be the first to admit that I was not sold on Tiffany from day one, there was something about her that didn’t appeal to me and even then I did not see how she appealed to others. However week after week, routine after routine she was able to find ways to shine not only individually but via her routines.

But what was it about her? There is no telling but what did it for me was her Top Six routine. She caught my attention and for the moment I begin to understand her allure. She stayed just under the radar throughout most of this season and I feel that she is peaking at just the right moment. Coming up from under the radar and shining at just the right time. Whether she is able to keep herself shining bright against another female dancer who is also shining at the right time remains to be seen, but Tiffany appears to have the momentum on her side and it started far earlier than that of Eliana’s.

THE ELIMINATEDCole Horibe
This was a disappointment to me. Cole embodies his characters so well that it is almost frightening and that is what I believed to be his undoing. Cole played cold and calculating so well that the choreographers tended to play to that more and more over time. Unfortunately, because Cole tended to play those characters on and off stage it tended to rub the voting audiences the wrong way.

But who is to complain about his technical prowess? Yes he was touted as a martial artist that was learning the art of dance, but as each week went by he proved time and time again that he is much more than meets the eye. Is it possible that TPTBs attempt at misdirection went too far as to hurt Cole’s legitimate chances of making it towards the end? It is possible, but honestly we may never know.

Witney Carson
Of the two female ballroom dancers, Witney had the personality, charisma, and technical prowess to make it far. And she did. Did I think she could have gone further? It is entirely possible, but honestly Witney, at times, tended to come off more sexy than not, which in the end probably did her in. Too much of one thing tends to draw the audience away and as thus she may have lost her chances.

IN CONCLUSION
Looking back at the above six dancers it is easy to see why America chose their top four. In many ways I agree with their choices and in other ways I may not. In the end this was a very strong group of dancers and in all honesty any combination of dancers would have worked.

After all they all bring to the table varying degrees of skill sets and personality quirks, and any combination of these would work in the final four. As to whom deserves to be in the final four? Well that was to America…. No?

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

TOP TWO ROUTINES:Chehon Wespi-Tschopp & Anya Garnis – Argentine Tango
Oh Em Gee… Hot Hot Hot… I was WAITING for this… this… Argentine Tango, but not only that an Argentine Tango that was done really well. I love how the choreographers incorporated a bit of his classical ballet training into the piece (much like Danny Tidwell with Sara von Gillem in Season 3) it was just beyond hot. Definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Cole Horibe & Allison Holker – Contemporary
For some reason the choreographers are really latching onto his crazy, darker, psychotic side of his character / personality and who can blame them? He does it way too well. I like this piece, a lot, but honestly I am over the whole dark Cole thing… I want to see him try sexy again or even goofy and fun… please? Beyond that… he is a very strong technical dancer so I am not really worried about his dance ability.

MIDDLE TWO ROUTINES:Eliana Girard & Ryan Di Lello – Quickstep
What’s there to say? I highly doubt there is anything that Eliana can not do… I mean she has been killing it for the most part with every routine up to date and she managed to help her first partner look good for the most part as well. She constant joy of being able to dance was consistent in this routine and she just seemed like she was having a grand ole time even while being in character.

Tiffany Maher & Ade Obayomi – Contemporary
For weeks I simply could not understand the draw that is Tiffany. Being a Jazz dancer I didn’t feel like she was challenged in this routine like she could have been, but I will admit even I liked her in this routine. She and Ade partnered in this routine rather well and I will begrudgingly agree that she has been fairly consistent when it comes to her work on the routines… I would love to see how she would fare in another routine that pushes her even further.

BOTTOM TWO ROUTINES:Witney Carson & Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip-hop
There is no doubt that Witney is just oozing personality and charisma and she brings a lot of that to her dances, however, in regards to content I just felt that there wasn’t enough of it and as thus I felt like she wasn’t being challenged or pushed as far as I think she could have been. As thus, this was not a memorable routine for me in any capacity… and I just felt that she feel flat.

Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer & Melanie Moore – Jazz
There are some routines that pushed and prodded Cyrus in so many directions and there are others that kind of catered to his weakness and I think this routine did the latter more than the former. Yes Cyrus was being challenged… but it felt slow and sloppy in areas. Since I believed if he was pushed in every routine like he was in the Travis Wall routine last week it may have accelerated his growth a bit more… instead we are left wondering why he is still around and I don’t want to think that way because he really is superb at what he does and there is just a wealth of potential there for him to grow so much more.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES:Will Thomas & Lauren Gottlieb – Hip-hop
This is the routine I was waiting for from Will, something that showed a side of him that we haven’t been able to get from him otherwise. It is unfortunate that he was eliminated because I feel like he had so much more left to give… if this routine was given to him earlier in the season I think it would have changed the direction of his development over the course of the show. If anything I believe he ended his time on the show on a high note… and me wanting more.

Lindsay Arnold & Alex Wong – Jazz
I really wanted to like this routine, I mean I am on the Alex Wong bandwagon… and Lindsay did a fabulous job last week in her routine with Jakob, but despite the incredibly strong dancing the connection / chemistry was not as strong as it could be. Based entirely on the routines of the evening this is probably one of the weaker routines overall… Not the weakest by any stretch of the imagination but not a strong routine either.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
Although I can understand letting Lindsay go… I would have much rather have seen Cyrus go as opposed to Will. But considering the votes were from last weeks’ dances I understand why the people voted Cyrus onward because his routine last week was beyond amazing in general.

I am not agreeing with the judges intervening in the eliminations from the Top 10 onwards. I miss having the audience choose how the Top 10 would be eliminated and felt that made for better television. Because Nigel and TPTB are trying to storyboard a lot of these dancers and their times on the show it loses a little bit of the integrity of the show in general and I hope that should the show return for a Season 10 we keep that little bit of what made the show such a wonderful piece of television. That and bring back the old stage!

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

PARTNER DANCESDancer: Witney CarsonAll Star: Stephen “tWitch” BossStyle: Hip-hopChoreographer: Luther BrownSong: Lil Wayne feat. Big Sean – “My Homies Still” Initial Thoughts: Well I wanted to see Witney try her hand at hip hop… and unfortunately I am not impressed by any stretch of the imagination. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I kind of felt that she was just being sexy, strutting around the stage shaking her booty and just added a few arm moments and voila!

Dancer: Cole HoribeAll Star: Allison HolkerStyle: ContemporaryChoreographer: Sonya TayehSong: Björk – “Possibly Maybe” (Instrumental) Initial Thoughts: I have a sneaky feeling that the choreographers are tapping into Cole’s more psychotic, evil, dark side of Cole more often than not… and who am I to complain? He does that look and personality well. His partnering with Allison was off the charts not to mention their chemistry… one of my favorites.

Dancer: Eliana GirardAll Star: Ryan Di LelloStyle: QuickstepChoreographer: Jonathan RobertsSong: Caro Emerald – “That Man” Initial Thoughts: Well, I wanted to see Eliana to try her hand on a Ballroom routine… but I was leaning more towards a Latin number… I didn’t think of Quickstep and man I liked this, but I wasn’t all too surprised that she could pull off a Quickstep. Her chemistry with Ryan was very good too and they looked like they were just having oodles of fun.

Dancer: Lindsay ArnoldAll Star: Alex WongStyle: JazzChoreographer: Sonya TayehSong: Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know” Initial Thoughts: Technically-wise this was a very good routine, chemistry / personality / character-wise it was ok… but I wanted to reach out and be thrilled with this routine… but instead just nothing.

Dancer: Will ThomasAll Star: Lauren GottliebStyle: Hip-hopChoreographer: Christopher ScottSong: Wye Oak – “Dance My Pain Away” (District 78 remix) Initial Thoughts: Personally I really like this routine… it was difficult to create a chemistry when the dancers are not dancing with one another… but somehow it worked. We managed to see a whole different side of the goofy Will that I think a lot of people were getting a little annoyed with and this was a breath of fresh air.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” SpencerAll Star: Melanie MooreStyle: JazzChoreographer: Mandy MooreSong: Freddy Fresh feat. Fatboy Slim – “Badder Badder Schwing” Initial Thoughts: For me this routine felt slow and you know that he’s not up there technically with the other dancers. But I have to admit, he is doing his damnedest to keep up and that in and of itself is impressive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-TschoppAll Star: Anya GarnisStyle: Argentine TangoChoreographer: Miriam Larici & Leonardo BarrionuevoSong: Jesse Cook – “Breathing Below Surface” Initial Thoughts: Hot Hot Hot… it is about time there is a sexy and smoldering Argentine Tango on the show and I am so glad that it was Chehon that got the honor of just that. I really loved his precision and footwork and his connection with Anya was palatable. Overall I really liked it… a lot… ok more than a lot.

Dancer: Tiffany MaherAll Star: Ade ObayomiStyle: ContemporaryChoreographer: Mandy MooreSong: Celine Dion – “The Power of Love” Initial Thoughts: Ok… I am slowly beginning to understand what people like in Tiffany, and honestly in comparison with the other girls of the evening this was generally a strong routine. Was I impressed? No, did I like it… yes…

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

As we move into the final set of live shows, the voting for this season continues to confuse us as Witney once again ended up in the bottom 2 girls. In particular, we’re unable to understand why she is not connecting with the audience (we think she’s fantastic!), but Tiffany, who’s been off the radar for us and seems to be an easy choice to send home, continues to avoid the bottom. We discuss the possible reasons for this, as well as what may have caused Audrey, George, and Chehon to also land in the bottom 4. Beyond the eliminations, we were extremely excited to see the return of all-star Jakob Karr, our favorite dancer to ever be on the show. We also discuss Cyrus and the way choreographers have been handling him this season, which brings up the question we asked at the end of season 8: should the show aim to choreograph/judge the dancers according to a universal standard, or should each dancer be considered individually according to his/her skill level? We should also mention that we loved the Eliana/Alex routine by Stacey Tookey, which demonstrated that with a proper partner Eliana is capable of amazing things!

Over the past few years my fiancée Meghan slowly brought me into the world of television, turning me into a full-fledged fan of both scripted and reality shows. So You Think You Can Dance turned into one of my favorite reality shows as it is a competition that takes itself seriously, providing the audience with artistic choreography and talented dancers. It's certainly not something I ever expected to get emotionally invested in, but here I am!
Meghan and I are very analytic when it comes to the things we enjoy. We constantly discussed and analyzed shows with each other and after doing this for a couple years, we decided that we should turn these discussions into a podcast. We created Reflections on Pop Entertainment, a podcast that provides commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 is the first television series we're covering with weekly podcasts and has allowed us to find our voice as well as actively contribute to the fan community. We hope that you'll enjoy our installments as they are posted to Pure So You Think You Can Dance!

With only a few weeks left in the competition I thought I should put in my own thoughts as to what I would like to see the Top Eight dance in the coming week. Below I have listed the Top Eight dancers as well as what they have danced in the first five weeks of the competition. After that I have put in my thoughts for each individual dancer and what I would love to see them dance.

Tiffany Maher: Contemporary, Foxtrot, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Disco
For a Jazz dancer she has moved through the spectrum. After a high energy routine like the Disco I want to test her mettle even further with either a high octane Sonya Tayeh Jazz routine or showing off character in a Broadway routine.

Lindsay Arnold: Paso Doble, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Contemporary, Jazz
This little Ballroom girl has been stretched in some capacity or another, but that Hip Hop routine left me cold… she needs another chance to redeem herself. So how about a hard hitting Hip Hop routine with Twitch or Bollywood (or some other cultural routine).

Witney Carson: Samba, Bollywood, Contemporary, Contemporary, Jazz
A Ballroom girl with a bit of sass, but I’m not completely sold on her versatility as a dancer quite yet… perhaps after I see her in a Hip Hop routine I would change my mind.

Eliana Girard: Broadway, Jive, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Contemporary
She has finally been pushed and challenged in her routine with Alex Wong, so let’s really push the envelop further and toss her Ballroom, preferable a fun and sexy Samba or an Argentine Tango to show off some aggression.

Cyrus Spencer: Broadway, Jive, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Contemporary
So… he has been able to push the envelope with a bit of Contemporary, this is another one that I would really love to see him push the envelope further in either a Jazz routine or another Ballroom dance.

Cole Horibe: Paso Doble, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Contemporary, ChaCha
He’s done goofy, creepy, aggressive, beautiful… I really want to see him do another ChaCha since he did the last one on an injured foot. However, since repeating dances is not possible let’s toss him a Jive or a Samba to show off a funloving version of Cole that would force him to engage his partner and the audience more.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Samba, Bollywood, Contemporary, Contemporary, Hip Hop
He is FINALLY beginning to let loose and enjoying himself on the stage! Only took him five weeks. I want to see if he could pull off Jazz or evening a fun and flirty Foxtrot.

Will Thomas: Hip Hop, Contemporary, Jazz, Contemporary, Bollywood
Hands down… Will tries to infuse goofy into his character so let’s see if he could emulate a character where he cannot be prone to add goofiness to: like an agressive Paso Doble or a hard hitting Krump.

Since all the dancers have had to do a Contemporary routine at some point during the competition (Mia Michaels day anyone?) I would prefer to see a day where there is no contemporary whatsoever… though it might be too much to hope.

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

TOP TWO ROUTINESEliana Girard w/ Alex Wong – Contemporary
This one I thought was a no brainer for myself (if not for most people). This really showed Eliana’s technical prowess and her performance level all rolled into one. Though I’ll admit I was a little disappointed it wasn’t further away from ballet because I am sure she has had quite a bit of training or background in contemporary. Having Alex as a partner definitely helps her, she held her own and really shoned the most from the Top Ten during this episode.

Witney Carson w/ Nick Lazzarini – Jazz
Witney got to show the sexy in this routine and did she ever. She and Nick had charisma and steam oozing for days. It was loads of fun watching Nick on the show finally (especially with Melody coming on as an All-Star last season)… that was a real treat. Granted Jazz isn’t too much of a stretch for Witney to begin with, but she looked like she was having loads of fun.

MIDDLE THREE ROUTINESLindsay Arnold w/ Jakob Karr – Jazz
What is it with both ballroom girls getting Jazz this week? I mean really. Granted Lindsay did a fantastic job and I actually believed Jakob being her shadow during the first portion of the routine. However, what really threw me was not that she didn’t dance it well, but rather that during the times that they should be in sync I felt that they weren’t. Like when Jakob does his amazing back bend or flicks his head one way or that, Lindsay wasn’t using her full body like Jakob did. Nevertheless this was a strong routine and she really held her own, but she has got to focus on the details if she wants to melt with other dancers that are just that polished.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp w/ Lauren Gottlieb – Lyrical Hip Hop
Understandably Chehon had a bit of trouble with the choreography, but dammit he was loose, he was free and he was having fun! What more could you ask for from someone that was doing ballet most of his life? You can’t help but be drawn into this pairing and you can’t help but notice how he just feels the music and the warmth that was emanating from him. Even though the dance wasn’t perfect he really grew leaps and bounds through this routine.

Will Thomas w/ Kathryn McCormick – Bollywood
Will’s a goofball and I haven’t seen a routine that Will has done that he wasn’t allowed to tap into his goofiness. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn’t… this is one of those routines where it works and it works well enough. Will danced the routine really well but dammit, sometimes I wish he’d tone down the goofiness a bit.

BOTTOM THREE ROUTINESCyrus “Glitch” Spencer w/ Jaimie Goodwin – Contemporary
He could have easily screwed this up, Travis could have easily cut more corners and have Jaimie dance around Cyrus more than she did, but he didn’t. This routine truly emphasized Cyrus’ strengths in emotion, passion and partnering… yes I noticed that he struggled a bit on making the lifts seamless and his technique wasn’t perfect but dammit he really did surprise me with how much he has grown. Travis did a smart job in creating a routine that would push Cyrus to reach Jaimie’s level and even though he didn’t meet by any stretch of the imagination he did grow and grow a lot. That being said, he still wasn’t strong enough, as long as he keeps growing exponentially as he has he should be fine for at least another week.

Cole Horibe w/ Anya Garnis – ChaCha
Yes, this wasn’t the best for Cole but honestly I am not going to thrown him under the bus for it… why? Because of the following:

Sigh, the Dr says I have to stay off my foot for at least 2 days. What? No practicing!? I said, Doc, do you understand what genre I pulled??

You read that right, Cole was actually injured this week and sidelined for two days due to that foot injury. So one couldn’t expect his feet to be perfect considering what he was going through. That being said I don’t necessarily agree with the judges saying that he connected with the audience more than Anya, I felt that there were times when he was splitting his focus with one eye on Anya and the other on the audience. I really liked these two together and Cole was always one for characterizations. If anything I would agree with Mary in the sense that I would have liked more, but I think that Cole did well as to be expected due to his injury… unfortunately despite that injury it didn’t really give as much of a cushion as it could.

Tiffany Maher w/ Brandon Bryant – Disco
There isn’t much for me to talk about with this routine, Tiffany was more in the air than on the floor so critiquing was going to be difficult. There were moments that I thought that she had a to work a bit to make the transitions smooth between tricks but it wasn’t bad. This was a very energetic routine that she did well in, however, I haven’t been able to feel much from her throughout the season and she hasn’t really captured my attention yet.

ELIMINATED ROUTINESGeorge Lawrence Jr w/ Allison Holker – Jazz
No surprise here, George’s performance seemed to fall flat for me here, but I had always had trouble connecting with George no matter how beautiful of a dancer he is. The one issue with this routine was the use of the cane which I kept comparing to that of Season 6’s Ashleigh and Jakob’s routine which was leaps and bounds more memorable than this. Even though the storylines differ I’ll still remember the Season 6 routine over this one.

Audrey Case w/ Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip Hop
I really wanted to like this routine, I really did, but dammit I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t. Audrey is another of those dancers that I haven’t been able to connect with throughout the season and she always appeared to fall flat for me. In the case of this performance she is put against someone like tWitch who is just oozing charisma and personality and she doesn’t come up to scratch she’s going to appear like a moving prop… which unfortunately is what happened to me.

It was a tribute to Gene Kelly, who’s 100th birthday is this week. Tyce took classic, iconic elements of Gene’s movies & incorporated them into the dance. So there’s Singin in the Rain with the umbrella (Chehon’s part), Cyd Charisse (Eliana, in a beautiful green dress), Fair Weather, Anchors Aweigh (at least that’s what I thought of when I saw Audrey, Lindsay & Witney in sailor/navy costumes but that could have also been On the Town), when he danced with Jerry Mouse, things like that. […] There were a few props on stage: director’s chair with Gene Kelly on the back, a ladder, trash can lids that Will, George, & Tyce (filling in for injured Cole) danced with, Chehon’s Singin umbrella. […] Everyone kind of danced in their own little groups seperately at various points of the dance, then all came together at the end to dance in one big group. Cole did show up at the close of the routine; […]

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

ROUTINES WITH THE ALL-STARSDancer: Tiffany MaherAll Star: Brandon BryantStyle: DiscoChoreographer: Doriana SanchezSong: Cobra Starship feat. Sabi – “You Make Me Feel…” (Disco Fries remix) Instant Thoughts: It was rather difficult to develop any kind of criticism because this was just shock full of tricks and lifts, which were executed really well. What I would have loved to have seen was more foot work, but what can you do? In the sense of the dance they were energetic and fun and you can’t help but want to get into the beat and groove in the movement.

Dancer: Cole HoribeAll Star: Anya GarnisStyle: ChaChaChoreographer: Dmitry ChaplinSong: The Wanted – “Glad You Came” Instant Thoughts: I was expecting a lot out of Cole this week and was a little bit disappointed. Well, he did connect with Anya but I wanted him to really dig into the steps more.

Dancer: Lindsay ArnoldAll Star: Jakob KarrStyle:BroadwayChoreographer: Spencer LiffSong: Fosse – “Dancin’ Dan” (Me and My Shadow) Instant Thoughts: This was fun to watch and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a perfect shadow at the beginning and that was a little distracting but once they started dancing together I was enjoying it more.

Dancer: Will ThomasAll Star: Kathryn McCormickStyle: BollywoodChoreographer: Nakul Dev MahajanSong: The Dirty Picture – “Ooh La La” Instant Thoughts: Will is just one massive goof ball and that is fine by me. I thought he did decently well with this dance, he had energy but yeah sometimes that goofiness comes off as too much but in this case it works… barely.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” SpencerAll Star: Jaimie GoodwinStyle: ContemporaryChoreographer: Travis WallSong: M83 – “Outro” Instant Thoughts: Wow, just wow… Cyrus definitely impressed me this time around. Pushed beyond what we perceived to be his limit… his strengths were shown with his partnering and as the judges were calling it “raw talent”. Unfortunately it also showed a little of his lack of training in this area, but considering just how much he is growing on the show that is always a positive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-TschoppAll Star: Lauren GottliebStyle: Hip-hopChoreographer: Dave ScottSong: Maxwell – “Pretty Wings” Instant Thoughts: This was another routine that wowed me, Chehon doing hip-hop? Yeeeeaaaah. He looked like he was having fun with his partner and there were a killer team together.

Dancer: George Lawrence, JrAll Star: Allison HolkerStyle: JazzChoreographer: Tyce DiorioSong: Hazmat Modine – “Bahamut” Instant Thoughts: When I saw the cane I immediately thought of another routine in Season 6 and unfortunately I couldn’t keep myself from comparing between the two. George is a strong dancer, but he just has’t wowed me in the grand scheme of things.

Dancer: Eliana GirardAll Star: Alex WongStyle: ContemporaryChoreographer: Stacey TookeySong: Nancy Sinatra – “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” Instant Thoughts: Definitely a favorite, this really appears to really show off Eliana in ways that she wasn’t when she was partnered with Cyrus. She really shined in this piece and having a well-trained partner like Alex definitely helped with that as well.

Dancer: Audrey CaseAll Star: Stephen “tWitch” BossStyle: Hip-hopChoreographer: Dave ScottSong: Janelle Monáe – “Sincerely, Jane” Instant Thoughts: For some reason I wasn’t really feeling Audrey tonight, she danced the piece decently enough, but when compared to someone like tWitch she has to really step up her game and she just didn’t for me which is unfortunate.

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)